The following are Top cyber crimes for 2007:

* Indian Hackers ” Pump and Dump ” Scheme: On March 12, federal officials unsealed an indictment charging three individuals from Chennai, India, with conspiracy, securities and wire fraud, and identity theft tied to the hijacking of online brokerage accounts in what authorities call a “hack, pump, and dump” scheme. According to the indictment, last year the defendants, based primarily in Thailand and India, set up online brokerage accounts, hacked into other accounts to buy thinly traded stocks, and once the stock had risen, they sold off their own shares. Among the victims are at least 60 customers and nine brokerage firms in the United States and overseas, with over $2 million in losses.
* Accurint Computer Fraud and ID Theft: On March 5, a federal judge sentenced five men for conspiracy to commit computer fraud and identity theft tied to intrusion of the Accurint database. Using Trojan horses, social engineering, and other techniques, the defendants obtained user login IDs and passwords and then made unauthorized entries into the Accurint database, which is widely used by law enforcement. All five men are restricted from using computers and were ordered to pay $105,750.29 in restitution to Lexis/Nexis (Accurint’s owner) and the Port Orange Fla., Police Department.
* Cisco Defrauded of Millions of Dollars: On February 27, Michael A. Daly of Danvers, Mass., was charged with using false identities and private mailboxes in at least 39 states to allegedly defraud Cisco Systems of networking equipment. Daly stands accused of carrying out the fraud at least 700 times, asking for replacement parts, selling them for a profit, and spending the money on, among other things, classic automobiles.
* Virus Transmitter Nabbed by FBI: In February, Richard C. Honour of Kenmore, Wash., pleaded guilty to releasing malicious computer viruses that infected DarkMyst and other Internet Relay Chat systems. Until the FBI showed up at his door, Honour got his kicks by inviting fellow IRC users to click on a movie link, which downloaded malware and created backdoor access to their computers.
* Theft of Morgan Stanley Hedge Fund Secrets: On February 1, federal prosecutors announced the guilty plea of Ira Chilowitz to charges tied to the theft from his ex-employer, Morgan Stanley, of hedge fund trade secrets. Chilowitz oversaw secure computer connections between Morgan Stanley and its Prime Brokerage clients, and had access to numerous internal documents, including a list of all of the firm’s hedge fund clients and the formulas used to calculate rates they paid for certain services. He pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy, transportation of stolen property, theft of trade secrets, and unauthorized computer access.
* Child Pornography Cases: The feds continued to rack up arrest after arrest of online traffickers in child pornography, working through Operation Predator (run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Innocent Images Initiative (run by the FBI). Among the latest perps: Billy Joe Bowser, 34, and Anthony Adams, 49, of Springfield, Ill. Between them the two men had more than 100,000 images of child porn that included kids under 2 years old, trading them on a chat room called “Kiddypics & Kiddyvids” using WinMX software for “peer-to-peer” file sharing. On March 5, Bowser received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; Adams got 19 years.

Major Computer Viruses over the last 25 years:

- ELK CLONER, 1982: Regarded as the first virus to hit personal computers worldwide, “Elk Cloner” spread through Apple II floppy disks and displayed a poem written by its author, a ninth-grade student who was designing a practical joke.

-BRAIN, 1986: “Brain” is the first virus to hit computers running a Microsoft Corp. operating - system DOS. Written by two Pakistani brothers, the virus left the phone number of their computer repair shop.

- MORRIS, 1988: Written by a Cornell University graduate student whose father was then a top government computer-security expert, the virus infected an estimated 6,000 university and military computers connected over the Internet. Although viruses had spread over the Internet before, until “Morris” none was widespread.

- MELISSA, 1999: “Melissa” was one of the first to spread over e-mail. When users opened an attachment, the virus sent copies of itself to the first 50 people in the user’s address book, covering the globe within hours.

- LOVE BUG, 2000: Also spread via e-mail attachment, “Love Bug” exploited human nature and tricked recipients into opening it by disguising itself as a love letter.

- CODE RED, 2001: Exploiting a flaw in Microsoft software, “Code Red” was among the first “network worms” to spread rapidly because it required only a network connection, not a human opening an attachment. Although the flaw was known, many system operators had yet to install a software patch Microsoft made available a month earlier to fix it.

- BLASTER, 2003: “Blaster” also took advantage of a known flaw in Microsoft software and, along with the 2003 “SoBig” outbreak, prompted Microsoft to offer cash rewards to people who help authorities capture and prosecute the virus writers.

- SASSER, 2004: “Sasser” exploited a Microsoft flaw as well and prompted some computers to continually crash and reboot, apparently the result of bad programming. Although “Sasser” is hardly the last malicious software, the ones since then have generally received less attention as networks install better defenses and profit-minded virus writers try to avoid detection and removal of their works.

A Genius Man (used the aliases “Iceman,” “Aphex,” “Darkest” and “Digits as aliases) stole credit card and identity information from thousands of people by hacking into the computers of financial institutions and credit card processing centers, Max Ray Butler, 35, of San Francisco, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of transferring stolen identity information. He could face up to 40 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted on all charges.
He was charged in Pittsburgh because he sold more than 100 credit card numbers and related information to a Pennsylvanian who is cooperating with the investigation, He also operated a Web site that served as an online forum for people who steal, share or use others’ credit card information illegally in a practice is known as “carding.”
The indictment charges Butler with e-mailing people about buying stolen card numbers and selling them for several hundred dollars per batch. Witnesses told agents they were present as Butler moved to various hotel rooms where he would use a high-powered antenna to intercept wireless communications. From there he allegedly hacked into financial institutions and credit card processing centers to obtain confidential card information.

1. Start With Directory Listings: Ensure that your site is listed in ODP (free) and also include Yahoo! Express ($299 yearly). Directory listings boost link popularity because human editors screen for relevancy. Seek listings in industry-specific directories. Search Engine Guide has a Search Engines Directory providing a searchable database of over 3,000 specialty search engines where you can find search engines dedicated to almost any topic.

2. Request Reciprocal Links: When looking for possible link candidates, start by searching your strategic keywords at major search portals. You’ll see a lot of competitors, but look for non-competing, complementary sites. Screen these sites, selecting those likely to be receptive to your link request. Give them a compelling reason to link to your site. Show them where a link might be advantageous. A good strategy is to link to them first, which might help get a link back. Target respected and popular sites of relevance to your target audience.

Also, identify a well-established site with good content that targets the same audience you want to reach. Perform a link analysis from that site, noting the incoming links and soliciting the best non-competing sites.

3. Promote Linkability Within Your Site: Provide quality resources and appropriate outgoing links, including links to search engines, news hubs, weather reports, industry resources, industry professional groups, etc. Outgoing links are important for two reasons: they provide incentive for other quality sites to link to yours, and they can improve your PR score if internal linkage is done properly.

4. Publish Articles: Employees with industry expertise can write business articles for your target audience, submitting the articles to appropriate online publications. Include your Web site URL in the bio and request that the article appear with bio and company link. This can generate many links and can also help promote future business.

5. Create Testimonials: Develop a testimonial page of products and services you recommend. If you admire a marketing or publishing site, contact the publisher explaining why you value the content. You may get a request for permission to display your comments on their Web site. Grant permission provided they agree to link to your site. It can help to post the testimonial on your site, referring them to it.

6. Supplement Your Campaign With Reciprocal Link Software: Programs like Arelis and Zeus can help locate additional reciprocal links. These robots will search the Web, looking for reciprocal linking partners, ranking potential sites by relevance. You can review the sites, decide which companies to solicit, request a link through a built-in email client with custom templates for requesting a link exchange, track the status of your requests, and check the viability of existing links.

Caution: Avoid link-building programs that query or visit search engines for finding potential link partners because this overloads the search engine servers, and your site can be penalized.

7. Post to Discussion Forums: This is an easy way to get a link from industry discussion forum sites if you have the time and expertise to participate. Include your URL in your sig file.

8. Link Multiple Sites: If you have a number of sites with unique content, be sure to link them to your main site. Content must be related, of course.

9. Awards and Contests: You can create an awards program for related sites, placing winner logo links on an awards page they can link back to. Or you can run a links contest, awarding prizes for linking to your site.

10. Affiliate Programs: Affiliates can be a source of links, depending on your site goals, budget and time availability. But the affiliate program must be administered from your site to improve link popularity because outsourcing requires linking to a third-party site. Affiliate software should generate static HTML pages for affiliate’s links to enable indexing.

Source: Inc.com: Top 10 Link-Building Strategies

Search Engine Optimization and Marketing. PPC SEM SEO Search Engine Optimization Internet Marketing Website Prime Visibility Design Web Analytics Google Yahoo MSN…PPC SEM SEO Search Engine

Videoblogging is the next generation of posting ideas and products over the internet. Everybody knows about textblogging. Now they use videos for a better way of expression. This form of communication may entail a lot of resources, but it is all worth it. If pictures say a thousand words, videoblogging exceeds that by far.

A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.

Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

by Kanicen Nichathavan

How can you use pop-over strategy without annoying, or worse yet, scaring away your website visitors? Here are 7 strategies for an effective pop-ups:

1. Delay the entrance of the pop-up. Most pop-up programs have a timing delay feature that enables the website designer to program a 5 or 10 second (or longer) delay before a pop-up will appear on the website. Give your visitor a short window of opportunity to read what’s on your site before asking him to take action.

2.Don’t create a monster pop-up. Today’s software permits a highly configurable pop-up that lets you to specify the size, location on the page, and type of image for the pop-up. A smaller static pop-up that’s on the right side of your page is quite effective, or a smaller ad that floats in and out again subtly conveys your message.

3. Determine the purpose of the pop-up. I think the primary purpose of a pop-up on a service business owner’s website should be to help that business owner grow his list. Subscribing to some type of service with pop-up banner ads is a big no-no, as is anything else that is unrelated to this website’s business. Make sure that the purpose of your pop-up ad directly relates to the purpose of your business.

4. Give your visitor what he wants in the pop-up. Assuming that you’ve given your visitor a short amount of time to peruse your site, your pop-up should contain a compelling offer that makes the visitor want to take action. The offer could be an invitation to subscribe to your free email newsletter that’s chock-full of the kind of information he is seeking, or the opportunity to receive a free ebook, audio file, or ecourse also containing additional information about the topic that caused him to land on your site.

5. Make the pop-up easy to close. Give your visitor an easily identifiable way of closing the pop-up. Sometimes that’s a link that says “close” or it’s an “X” within the pop-up window. Don’t force your visitor into a situation that he’s unable to exit; otherwise, he’ll just simply leave your site.

6. Limit the exposure of the pop-up. You don’t want to completely distract your visitor from the rest of your website. Limit the amount of time that a pop-up appears as well as the number of times that a pop-up appears. A time of 30 seconds is usually more than adequate to inform you visitor of your pop-up offer, and make sure that the offer appears only once, not on every single page of your website.

7. Gather information upon exit. Instead of creating an entrance pop-up, ask your visitor a question upon exiting, or remind him about subscribing to or requesting your “compelling offer”. In this way, there’s nothing that impedes your visitor’s viewing of site until he chooses to exit.

This combination of new pop-up technology, along with a bit of Internet marketing savvy, can help you harness the power of your website to create a sure-fire strategy that will convert visitors into customers.

1. Join an Afffiliate Program
Many manufacturers will give you a cut of the profits on products that you sell for them. To succeed, choose a niche, sign-up with a reputable affiliate program, and most importantly, find a way to drive traffic and sales
2. Sell on eBay
Listing merchandise to sell on ebay requires nothing more than a computer, internet connection and a means of producing digital images. Once you become an active seller, you can ease into a Web site by opening your own ebay store for as little as $5 per month to promote additional items.
3. Use Google’s AdSense
Google’s AdSense program allows Web sites to display relevant ads on their website. If a Web visitor “clicks” on an ad, the Web publisher will earn a percentage of any ad revenue generated. To take advantage of this, build content Web sites that attract visitors and hope they click frequently on the ads.
4. Write an e-Book
People pay for information, and have come to appreciate the convenience of downloading the information quickly from the Internet. If you have information of value, write an e-book! Once written and in digital form, you will have minimal ongoing costs of production.
5. Sell drop-shipped products
You don’t always need to build inventory before selling online. Drop shipping allows an Internet merchant to accept orders for products, and then pay a manufacturer or distributor to ship the product to the customer. You’ll need to find a good market niche, a drop-shipper, and a way to drive traffic to your site.

Source Your Guide to Online Business

Erik Stafford (The Faster Webmaster) gives beginners some tips on driving traffic.

Some funny commercials that would catch consumers’ attention.